Sunday, May 3, 2009

Keeping your head screwed on right


In the flurry of planting your garden, it is easy to lose track of what was planted and when. This information might seem like nothing important; but when you are wondering in a few months what to harvest and what isn’t ready yet, it will become vitally important.

I spent some time this morning updating the garden planting chart I created in Excel. I like Excel, but you could use a calendar or garden journal or you could use the garden stakes and markers as your guide by adding the planting date and the number of days to expected harvest.

As you can see by the picture above, I have some additional columns on my chart, they include the actual harvest date and a section for comments about planting, the result of the harvest, etc. This will help me when I go to plant next year to determine what worked well in my soil, what didn’t, if I need ammendments to the soil for particular crops and other helpful information (disease, pest issues, etc.).

No matter what kind of log or diary you use, just make sure you keep up with it. Year over year, it will make your gardening experience less frustrating, more educational, more pleasurable and most of all more delicious!

Happy Gardening!

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